Jonesing for Joe!
Thousands sign petition demanding
Trader Joe’s open in Coney Island
BY JULIANNE MCSHANE
They’re hungry for hipsters!
Bigwigs at South Pacifi c-themed
grocer Trader Joe’s must open a third
Kings County location in Coney Island,
according to thousands of locals who
signed a petition claiming a local outpost
would help make the neighborhood
“Brooklyn’s next hipster enclave.”
The store known for its Hawaiianshirt–
clad employees would bring
fresh and inexpensive fare to Coney
residents who must now otherwise
shop at three larger, chain supermarkets,
according to the petition’s coorganizer,
who claimed to own three
apartments in the neighborhood, and
admitted to jockeying for a Joe’s because
he said it would increase the
value of his real estate.
“It appeals to both the lower-middle
and upper-middle-class people, it’s superb
service, and great quality food,”
said Alex, who declined to give his
last name and said he lives nearby in
Brighton Beach. “I would love to see
gentrifi cation happen, because the
value of my investment properties
would go way up.”
Alex said he and the petition’s cocreator,
who insisted on remaining
anonymous, initially wrote it as a joke.
But as of Jan. 23, more than 3,000
people signed the plea, which seeks
5,000 names, and calls for bringing
“more skinny-pants residents” to Coney
in addition to the grocer, whose two
other Brooklyn locations — on Court
Street in Cobble Hill, and inside Downtown’s
City Point complex — are too far
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a trek from the southern neighborhood,
according to the plea.
“Southern Brooklyn shoppers are
tired of taking a car, train, taxi, or bus
to other neighborhoods,” the petition
reads.
Three bigger chain supermarkets
currently hawk groceries to Coney Islanders
— including Key Food at Neptune
Avenue and W. 36th Street, Fine
Fare on Mermaid Avenue between
W. 29th and W. 30th streets, and Stop
and Shop on Cropsey Avenue near Bay
53rd Street — in addition to the spate
of small bodegas that dot Surf, Mermaid,
and Neptune avenues.
The district manager of the local
Community Board 13 said the board
would welcome a Trader Joe’s — or
any business that both stimulates the
local economy and fi lls a need in the
community.
“We look forward to any new commercial
development coming to the
neighborhood,” said Eddie Mark. “We
need stores that will fi ll in the services
lacking in the area.”
But some locals who support the
push for a Coney Trader Joe’s outpost
stopped short of endorsing the petition’s
gentrifi cation call, fearing such
change would forever alter the neighborhood’s
character.
“Trader Joe’s specifi cally would be
a wonderful addition to the community,
it’s just the petition’s wording that I had
a problem with,” said Orlando Mendez,
who did not sign the plea.
Alex said he and his co-creator encourage
gentrifi cation because of the
types of new businesses — such as the
grocer — and people it could bring to
Coney Island, not with a desire to displace
current residents.
“When we say support gentrifi cation,
it’s to bring in amazing food, an
amazing vibe, to the area,” he said. “I
totally understand what gentrifi cation
does, but at the same time when
you have money invested in an area
you want to see it grow.”
A rep for Trader Joe’s said the California
based company currently has
no plans to open a Coney store. But
honchos at the grocer are “always looking
for and considering new neighborhoods
that would be a great fi t,” and
are “so grateful” that locals want a Coney
Island outpost, according to Kenya
Friend-Daniel.
THE PEOPLE’S PRODUCE: Petition signers
hope to shop aisles like these, inside Trader
Joe’s Court Street location, in Coney Island.
File photo by Stephen Brown
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